Agnes Weston was born in Bath, England forty years after Jane Austen’s death. In Agnes’ day, Bath still retained the elegance, class, and social status that it had held during the time of Jane Austen’s writing of the book, Persuasion. Agnes was born into a wealthy family, but eschewed her parents’ ardent Christian faith until she met a young minister who listened to her objections with patience and spoke to her about a personal faith in Jesus Christ, devoid of hypocrisy. When Agnes received Jesus, she did so wholeheartedly and the result was a life dedicated to Christian service on behalf of the Royal Navy. Her exploits for a woman of her time were novel and profound. Listen in to hear how God led her from atheism into a life of devoted, joyous service to Jesus.
- www.aggies.org.uk/about-aggie-weston
- www.wikipediaorg/wiki/Agnes-Weston
[00:00:04] Welcome to Women Worth Knowing, the radio program and podcast hosted by Cheryl Brodersen
[00:00:10] and Robin Jones Gunn.
[00:00:12] We are bringing you another couple of women worth knowing today.
[00:00:16] Cheryl has prepared two doctors and I can't wait to hear about them.
[00:00:21] Well, they're two doctors and you remember that we did a podcast on Mary Bird?
[00:00:26] It was like a two parter.
[00:00:28] Fascinating.
[00:00:28] Right.
[00:00:29] She lived from 1859 to 1914.
[00:00:32] I think we did three parts.
[00:00:33] We might have.
[00:00:34] Yeah, she had quite a life.
[00:00:36] Right.
[00:00:36] The book that I read on her was She Went Alone.
[00:00:39] Yes.
[00:00:40] So she had gone to as the first female missionary to be sent out by the Church Missionary
[00:00:45] Society to Persia and she had gone all by herself and while she was there, she was
[00:00:51] able to set up a dispensary and treat all these women medically as well as spiritually.
[00:00:58] She prayed with every single patient and sometimes she would see up to 200 patients
[00:01:03] a day.
[00:01:04] How?
[00:01:04] Now the reason I mention her is because the two doctors we're going to talk about
[00:01:09] today followed Mary to Persia.
[00:01:13] They were inspired.
[00:01:14] They were.
[00:01:15] They were.
[00:01:16] Now there's not much on either of these women but it's enough to talk about them
[00:01:22] and I really think it's important.
[00:01:24] I mean, I think about how many women we might not have the full story but they're
[00:01:29] so worth knowing it.
[00:01:31] Oh yes.
[00:01:32] So this is I want to start with Dr. Emmeline Stewart and I mentioned her in the podcast
[00:01:37] on Mary Bird that she came and took over Mary's dispensary.
[00:01:44] So her name again, Dr. Emmeline Stewart, it's really hard to find information on her
[00:01:51] so I was able to just find a brief article on Wikipedia which makes me so sad.
[00:01:56] So I came across her name just in the story of Mary Bird and Mary Bird's interaction
[00:02:02] with Emmeline.
[00:02:04] So Emmeline was born in 1866 in Edinburgh and I don't have any colorful stories
[00:02:11] at all about her childhood.
[00:02:13] I don't know anything other than that she had a sister who later joined Church
[00:02:18] Missionary Society.
[00:02:20] And I know that Emmeline went to medical school in Glasgow and after she graduated
[00:02:26] the jobs for female doctors in Scotland and England were scarce because at that time
[00:02:32] women preferred male doctors and felt like women weren't practiced enough.
[00:02:39] And it's interesting because the prejudice was against women towards women doctors.
[00:02:46] However, she heard of a need in the Middle East for female doctors and that it was huge.
[00:02:51] Those women weren't allowed to go to male doctors.
[00:02:54] So if a female doctor did not come to the Middle East then these women were
[00:02:59] without any medical care at all.
[00:03:04] The mortality rate and illness among the women in the Middle East was huge, huge.
[00:03:12] Not only was it huge because of illness and sickness, childbearing, but it was also huge
[00:03:18] because of the physical abuse that many of these women suffered.
[00:03:22] In 1895, Emmeline joined the Church Missionary Society and her first assignment,
[00:03:28] as you might remember, was to Jolfa, Persia.
[00:03:31] She was 30 years old when she went, was 1897.
[00:03:36] And she took over the practice and dispensary that Mary Bird had started.
[00:03:40] At the time of Mary's departure, there were over 200 women a day being treated.
[00:03:46] So right then it's like from the, what do you call it, the frying pan to the fryer?
[00:03:51] Yes.
[00:03:52] I mean this is-
[00:03:53] Just dive right in and-
[00:03:55] Exactly.
[00:03:55] Line of patients are waiting for you.
[00:03:58] Exactly.
[00:03:58] So Dr. Sturt definitely had a full schedule.
[00:04:01] She served for the next five years before a short trip back to London in 1902.
[00:04:07] But she came back in September of 1903, so it wasn't even a full year sabbatical.
[00:04:13] That was the only break she took.
[00:04:16] Sturt not only maintained the dispensary, but would try to visit patients who lived on
[00:04:21] the outskirts of Jolfa.
[00:04:23] She was rarely, you can imagine with her schedule, able to visit more than one patient a day.
[00:04:29] So I think that was due to not only her workload back in the dispensary,
[00:04:34] but I think it was also due to the fact that there was the Persian hospitality.
[00:04:41] So they didn't really have drop-ins.
[00:04:44] They had to entertain you, they had to give you tea.
[00:04:47] There had to be this talking and these formalities before you were allowed to
[00:04:51] see the patient.
[00:04:54] She would also visit villages with her cousin Anne Isabella Sturt,
[00:04:59] who was part of the Persia mission in Isfahan.
[00:05:04] Which is a little different than the Christian, than the church, sorry,
[00:05:09] the Church Missionary Society.
[00:05:10] It's a little bit of a different organization.
[00:05:13] But how comforting to have family right there.
[00:05:15] And your cousin, right?
[00:05:16] Yes.
[00:05:17] And not only that, her cousin Anne.
[00:05:18] Anne is so busy working with patients immediately and using her medical skills.
[00:05:26] But Anne, her cousin, could read, spoke fluently, and could sing Persian hymns.
[00:05:33] Oh.
[00:05:34] And so that was a huge help to Emeline.
[00:05:37] And what a sweet ministry.
[00:05:38] Isn't that?
[00:05:39] I know.
[00:05:40] So when Emeline would visit these outlying villages,
[00:05:45] she never knew what type of reception she was going to get.
[00:05:48] Some villages, the women just flocked around her.
[00:05:51] They were so desperate for medical care and they just received her
[00:05:55] warmly and were excited, but she's like a little bit overwhelmed.
[00:06:00] But other times she was met with resistance, hostility, and fear.
[00:06:06] Because there were those that spread rumors that the white women wanted to kill the babies.
[00:06:13] And I think it probably came from the stillborn delivery
[00:06:17] of a baby that was born stillborn.
[00:06:20] And so then...
[00:06:21] And they'd think, why?
[00:06:22] I thought you were going to take care of it.
[00:06:23] Right.
[00:06:23] Because I came to you as a doctor and not understanding.
[00:06:27] Right. Exactly.
[00:06:28] So Dr. Stewart was one of the first missionaries, along with two others,
[00:06:32] to reach Isfahan and share the gospel.
[00:06:36] Although no open preaching was allowed, they were able to share the gospel privately.
[00:06:42] And over a hundred women received Jesus and were baptized in Isfahan.
[00:06:48] Also she established a school that was for both Persian and Parsi ladies.
[00:06:53] Which is just incredible.
[00:06:55] Yes.
[00:06:55] To start this, because you consider that these women weren't allowed an education.
[00:07:02] These women weren't...
[00:07:05] Before this time they were repressed.
[00:07:08] And so this is something else that she's going to teach them to read, to write,
[00:07:12] how to study.
[00:07:15] Immaline's hospital in Jolfa was made from sun-dried mud bricks.
[00:07:19] Because I forgot to tell you, she took the dispensary
[00:07:22] and she made it into a hospital in Jolfa.
[00:07:26] And so...
[00:07:27] I don't remember it being that large.
[00:07:29] They were resourceful with what they had, they just went for it.
[00:07:32] Don't you know it?
[00:07:33] And so the only problem with this hospital that she built is it was for men and women.
[00:07:39] And they were right next door to each other with these outbuildings in between
[00:07:45] that were where the nurses and the staff lived.
[00:07:49] And so they said because it was staffed with Muslims, Jews, Armenians, Parsis,
[00:07:57] Tyarus and Kaskas, there could be a lot of tension.
[00:08:04] So the nurses were mainly Persian and Armenian.
[00:08:08] Strut was a specialist in surgery for women, especially a type of hysterectomy.
[00:08:13] Which she performed quite a bit and she not only performed these surgeries,
[00:08:20] but she trained other doctors in this type of surgery because it was so, so needed.
[00:08:27] And I wonder if that was just revolutionary
[00:08:29] because there had been no services for those women in the past.
[00:08:32] Right.
[00:08:32] And I think too by this time you've got chloroform.
[00:08:35] And because she's from Edinburgh,
[00:08:37] you've got the ability to anesthetize these women for the first time
[00:08:42] and to be able to take care of these issues.
[00:08:45] Her hospitals were terribly understaffed, as you could well imagine,
[00:08:50] and always short of medical supplies.
[00:08:52] Things like bandages, towels, sponges and clothing were always needed.
[00:08:58] The road system was also rudimentary
[00:09:00] and road workers often left dangerous debris right in the middle of the road
[00:09:04] in pending travel.
[00:09:06] So that was some of the obstacles she faced as a doctor in Persia.
[00:09:11] In 1906, she was able to successfully move the dispensary,
[00:09:15] by this time a woman's hospital from Jolfa to Isfahan via donkeys and cart.
[00:09:20] She was given seven acres there to build a hospital.
[00:09:23] Oh wow.
[00:09:24] And she did.
[00:09:26] Though she was a first rate doctor,
[00:09:28] Imaline considered herself, and I love this part,
[00:09:30] first an evangelist and her work an extension and expression of Jesus' love.
[00:09:36] I love that.
[00:09:38] She gave Christian messages every afternoon
[00:09:42] as well as held services twice a week where she taught.
[00:09:46] You might remember that she saw the patients in the morning
[00:09:49] and then it would be in the early evening that she would do her visitations.
[00:09:53] I think because it was cooler.
[00:09:57] But she also gave a special message at the hospital,
[00:10:01] a Bible message once a week for all of the staff and all of the patients.
[00:10:07] She was always willing and excited to share the gospel with anyone in any conversation.
[00:10:13] She reported at least 12 baptisms
[00:10:17] and helped organize the communities get this first Persian Christian wedding
[00:10:23] for a hospital assistant.
[00:10:27] And then one patient was a young 14-year-old girl
[00:10:31] whose husband had set her on fire and her wounds were beyond treatment.
[00:10:39] So Imaline got the staff to surround her and sing hymns to her in Persian while she went to heaven.
[00:10:46] Isn't that so sad?
[00:10:47] But that just shows you some of the things that she worked with.
[00:10:50] And the great need that was there.
[00:10:52] Great need.
[00:10:53] In 1923, okay, so I forgot to mention this.
[00:10:57] She had to leave Persia during World War I as did all the missionaries
[00:11:02] because Persia got caught up in this campaign
[00:11:06] and it was dangerous for the English to be in Persia during that time.
[00:11:10] So the Church Missionary Society evacuated all their missionaries.
[00:11:16] But she was able to go back in 1918, 1919 towards the end of World War I.
[00:11:24] And at the age of 57, she opened a dispensary in Shiraz.
[00:11:29] I mean 57 and she's still going strong.
[00:11:34] Now there's no mention of her death.
[00:11:36] I couldn't find anything about her death or where she died.
[00:11:39] So she will be simply a woman worth knowing
[00:11:41] because of her dedication to the gospel, to Jesus,
[00:11:46] and to the spiritual and physical well-being of the women in Persia.
[00:11:51] Beautiful.
[00:11:52] So that was Dr. Imaline Strzok.
[00:11:55] Now I'm going to talk to you about another doctor
[00:11:58] who followed Imaline Strzok and actually worked at the hospital with her.
[00:12:03] And her name is Catherine Ironside.
[00:12:06] Now Catherine was born in 1870,
[00:12:09] so she's just about three years younger than Imaline.
[00:12:13] And she was born in North Finchley which is now a suburb of London.
[00:12:19] But at that point it was considered on the outskirts of London.
[00:12:23] Her father was Edmund Ironside and her mother was Mary Kane Ironside.
[00:12:30] And nothing's known about them.
[00:12:32] It's not like, oh this is a barrister or this was a you know.
[00:12:35] Nope we don't even know what they did.
[00:12:37] Catherine was one of two girls and her sister's name was Grace Uly.
[00:12:43] And Grace would later become a school teacher.
[00:12:46] So again, like Imaline, we don't have any information about her upbringing
[00:12:53] except for that she applied to work with the Church Missionary Society.
[00:12:59] And like Mary and Imaline, she was assigned to Persia.
[00:13:03] So interestingly enough when Catherine Ironside first went to college
[00:13:07] she thought she'd just be a nurse.
[00:13:08] Like I'm just going to be a nurse and that will be you know just enough.
[00:13:12] But she was there and she got so caught up with medicine
[00:13:15] that she soon trained to be a midwife.
[00:13:18] And she loved midwifery and she loved medicine
[00:13:21] and she's like I could be a doctor.
[00:13:24] So she went back to the London School of Medicine for women
[00:13:29] and she graduated with a medical degree.
[00:13:32] And this was pretty novel because women didn't start training for medicine
[00:13:41] until I think it was 1860 the first English woman was given a medical certificate.
[00:13:48] So this is pretty novel.
[00:13:49] Yes.
[00:13:50] So when Catherine arrived in Persia she immediately started learning Farsi language
[00:13:57] and by her second year in Persia she was fluent and it became her second language.
[00:14:04] In fact they said she was as fluent in English as she was in Farsi.
[00:14:08] Isn't it interesting how these women just are able to flourish
[00:14:13] in other parts of the world but if you put her back into this suburb of London
[00:14:17] with all of her interests and skills.
[00:14:21] How would she be used to her fullest?
[00:14:24] That's right.
[00:14:25] Well you know interestingly enough she was assigned to the hospital in Isfahan
[00:14:31] the one that Dr. Emmeline Stewart had opened.
[00:14:38] So the hospital had 84 beds in the women's ward and 100 beds in the men's ward.
[00:14:43] And again the wards at this point were serviced by two surgical rooms just two surgical rooms.
[00:14:53] Catherine became known for her surgical skills and her diagnostic ability.
[00:14:59] She worked at other hospitals in CMS Church Missionary Society
[00:15:05] and around Persia including Yazd and Kerman.
[00:15:09] So she was so good at surgeries and so good with diagnosing patients
[00:15:15] that the Church Missionary Society would actually send her to different hospitals
[00:15:20] to help the doctors recognize and to help train.
[00:15:25] She worked in Persia for 11 years until she was driven out in 1915 as we mentioned earlier
[00:15:32] because of the Persian campaign of World War I.
[00:15:35] She returned to London and worked at the London Temperance Hospital
[00:15:39] and she was awarded the OBE or Officer of the Order of the British Empire
[00:15:46] for her services during World War I.
[00:15:50] So this is a good doctor.
[00:15:54] In February of 1920 Catherine was able to return to Isfahan, Persia.
[00:15:59] This time she worked closely with British officers especially the surgeons.
[00:16:04] She wrote two books about her experience in Persia.
[00:16:07] The first and I could not find them.
[00:16:09] I looked everywhere but I'm hoping maybe when I'm in England to go to Book Aid and find this.
[00:16:15] Yes every now and then we find these.
[00:16:16] Yes but one is called Open Doors in Persia and she wrote it in 1916.
[00:16:21] So she wrote this book compiled it from notes she had of her time in Persia
[00:16:27] but she wrote it in London.
[00:16:30] Then the second book was called Persian Patients and she wrote it in 1921
[00:16:35] and in both books she provides first-hand accounts of her life in Persia
[00:16:40] and the medical and missionary work that she did there.
[00:16:44] So she talks about the patient, she gives names, she tells their stories.
[00:16:49] So I've heard.
[00:16:51] Those are my favorite type of books when they get really personal
[00:16:55] and they tell you this is my interaction, this is what this person came in,
[00:17:00] this is what I diagnosed and this is how the Lord led me to this.
[00:17:08] I love books like that.
[00:17:09] Well and especially when that person look how busy she is
[00:17:13] and yet she took the time to write these things down
[00:17:17] having no idea that they would be a treasure to someone else to read many many years later.
[00:17:23] Somebody else's treasure, I want them to be my treasure.
[00:17:26] I'm just saying.
[00:17:27] Okay, Catherine was not just a doctor and so remember how Dr. Emeline Stewart was not
[00:17:33] just a doctor she considered her first mission the spiritual needs, right, evangelist.
[00:17:40] So Catherine was not just a doctor either while in Isfahan
[00:17:45] she worked closely with the Christian church there.
[00:17:49] She led regular gospel teachings at the church and commissioned and trained missionaries
[00:17:57] missionaries, Persian, Armenian, these women who got saved, right,
[00:18:03] to lead Bible studies and religious classes in the outlying villages.
[00:18:07] So she saw this need like no we need to train others.
[00:18:10] It's kind of like I think of Hudson Taylor training up the Bible women
[00:18:15] in China knowing that the women could get into homes and teach the gospel.
[00:18:21] Perhaps you remember that the Muftis were concerned about Mary Bird
[00:18:28] because they felt like she could influence the women.
[00:18:32] The women would influence the children and the home.
[00:18:36] She was infiltrating your system.
[00:18:37] She was infiltrating and women have that ability to do that.
[00:18:43] She was such a popular doctor that she would make home visits
[00:18:48] to high-ranking families and local tribes.
[00:18:51] She was the most requested for either the women who were wealthier.
[00:18:57] On Catherine's last trip to Isfahan in 1920 she got caught in a snowstorm
[00:19:03] in a mountain pass and she almost died.
[00:19:06] This experience though left her very weak and she ended up catching the flu
[00:19:11] during the influenza epidemic of 1921 so just about a year later but the rest of the time
[00:19:17] she was just weak.
[00:19:19] The flu developed into pneumonia and she passed away on November 11, 1921 at the age of 49.
[00:19:26] She was buried in the Armenian Cathedral in Jolfa.
[00:19:31] Now at her home church which was Christ Church in North Finchley there is a carving like
[00:19:40] a memorial to her and this is what it says.
[00:19:45] Dr. Catherine Ironson went from Christ Church to Iran 1905 to 1921.
[00:19:52] Our baptismal font cover is carved in memory of Dr. Catherine Mary Ironside who aged 36
[00:19:59] traveled from Christ Church North Finchley to the CMS hospital in Isfahan, Iran
[00:20:06] on the 5th of March 1905.
[00:20:08] She was one of many Anglicans from the Church Missionary Society
[00:20:12] and was sent to share the gospel while serving the people in the Middle East.
[00:20:16] It must have been a very long journey.
[00:20:21] In those days there were no passenger flights anywhere and only limited train travel in Europe.
[00:20:28] The first leg was probably a sail or steam ship across the Mediterranean Sea to Israel,
[00:20:35] the easy part.
[00:20:37] Then 1,000 miles on carts, donkeys and camels just like the wise men of the East who visited
[00:20:44] Jesus.
[00:20:46] She returned for a furlough and set out again for Iran on the 8th of September 1911.
[00:20:53] Dr. Catherine Ironside died in Isfahan on the 11th of November 1921 of pneumonia.
[00:20:59] She was just 49 years old.
[00:21:01] Her grave is given a place of honor at the Armenian Venk or Vank Cathedral in Isfahan
[00:21:08] as a gesture of respect and affection of the Armenian community.
[00:21:14] Her tombstone inscription reads,
[00:21:16] will you not follow if you hear the call?
[00:21:21] I know that's so that is quite a plaque isn't all of that appears.
[00:21:26] I know.
[00:21:27] Wow.
[00:21:27] And this is the hard part.
[00:21:28] It said if you want more information on Dr. Catherine Ironside, see there was a name of a man
[00:21:36] that you should see at the church and I'm like, I want this.
[00:21:39] I want to meet him.
[00:21:40] I want to talk to him about Catherine Ironside.
[00:21:43] Especially the way it's worded because there were no direct flights back in those days.
[00:21:48] And can you imagine?
[00:21:49] Just trying to imagine what it was like to get a camel ride.
[00:21:54] Right.
[00:21:54] Well, we talked a few weeks ago about Isabella Bird,
[00:21:57] who was a distant relation of Mary Bird and an explorer.
[00:22:01] And she trekked through India into Persia.
[00:22:05] Yes.
[00:22:05] So you know going over the mountain passes and she went by I think it was like she did a yak.
[00:22:12] She did camel.
[00:22:13] She did an elephant.
[00:22:15] She did all these different modes of travel for that day.
[00:22:20] I mean, it's not like you take a bus.
[00:22:22] Right.
[00:22:22] And the ox carts were supposed to be the faster way,
[00:22:25] but they had such bad accidents when they would turn over and everybody would fall out.
[00:22:30] Right.
[00:22:31] And remember the roads in Persia are rudimentary because of those who are doing buildings just
[00:22:38] leave all the debris like oh we didn't need these rocks.
[00:22:41] We'll throw them on the street.
[00:22:42] We didn't need this.
[00:22:43] And then too, I mean the sanitary conditions too.
[00:22:47] So you can imagine how the travel was, but how dedicated she was.
[00:22:51] I love that her motto was if you hear the call will you not follow?
[00:22:59] Wow.
[00:22:59] If you hear that still small voice, will you not heed it?
[00:23:02] It reminds me of what the author of Hebrews says,
[00:23:05] today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart.
[00:23:09] I'm thinking about maybe some of our listeners are hearing his voice and going no,
[00:23:13] no that can't be God.
[00:23:14] I'm doing that to myself.
[00:23:17] And yet God is calling you to something and who knows?
[00:23:20] Maybe it's just to start a good news club.
[00:23:23] Just soften your heart to him.
[00:23:24] He'll show you.
[00:23:25] Exactly, but I think of how this woman Mrs. Grimshaw was so influential in my life as
[00:23:32] a good news club teacher.
[00:23:34] And I think of my aunt who ran a camp for foster children who was so influential
[00:23:40] in the lives of literally thousands of young men and young women and children
[00:23:47] by having this camp.
[00:23:49] And I just think you don't have to be, you don't have to even go out of the United States
[00:23:55] to be a woman worth knowing or to do something notable for Jesus Christ.
[00:24:00] It's if you hear his voice will you not follow?
[00:24:04] He's as you said he's got something for all of us.
[00:24:07] It will be fascinating to find out in heaven these women we've been talking
[00:24:11] about who were drawn to Persia.
[00:24:13] What was it?
[00:24:14] Did you hear another person talking about that in the world?
[00:24:17] Or did you read something or was it something God just stirred in you?
[00:24:22] Or did they just go down and when they signed up the mission society
[00:24:25] that was where the opening was.
[00:24:28] I think about this too.
[00:24:30] You said heaven but now that we know these women and we know all about these women
[00:24:34] we're going to have a list going I need to meet Mary Bird.
[00:24:37] I need to meet Isabel Bird.
[00:24:41] Has anyone seen Dr. Emmeline Strick because we didn't get the whole story.
[00:24:45] All the information we had is from Wikipedia.
[00:24:48] We want to see more.
[00:24:49] We need more information and that's why we will be back again
[00:24:53] with another woman worth knowing because we love to share about these women with you.
[00:24:57] Right and we want you to have friends in heaven right?
[00:25:01] There you go people to see.
[00:25:10] Thank you for listening to women worth knowing with Cheryl Brodersen
[00:25:13] and Robin Jones Gunn.
[00:25:15] For more information on Cheryl visit CherylBrodersen.com
[00:25:19] or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
[00:25:21] For more information on Robin visit RobinGunn.com
[00:25:24] or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
[00:25:26] Join us each week for a lively conversation as we explore the lives of well-known
[00:25:31] and not so well-known historical and contemporary Christian women.
[00:25:35] If you think there is a woman worth knowing we'd love to hear from you.
[00:25:39] Email us at www.kcccm.com
[00:25:44] We hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
[00:25:46] Make sure you rate us on your podcast app, subscribe and share it with a friend.
[00:25:50] Thank you again for listening to women worth knowing with Cheryl Brodersen
[00:25:54] and Robin Jones Gunn.
[00:25:56] Women worth knowing is a production of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.
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